What REALLY Happens When The Rum Is Gone
by Eli's Girl
Summary: This is MY version of what should have happened at the end of At World's End. Will and Elizabeth never got married in the middle of the battle. Will is on the Flying Dutchman and Elizabeth is aboard the Black Pearl... with Jack... A Sparrabeth love story.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Choice

There Elizabeth Swann stood, looking out toward the deep navy ocean, watching the pink and orange sunset melt into the horizon. Will was now captain of the Flying Dutchman, tied to his duties to ferry souls who died at sea to the other side. Jack had successfully defeated the East India Company, and was now likely celebrating his victory in a rum-induced stupor. Yet her she remained, her feelings conflicted toward either man.

"My intuitive sense of the female creature has informed me that you are once again troubled, love." Jack Sparrow approached her to stand at the side of the mighty Black Pearl, carrying a half empty bottle of rum in his hand.

She sighed deeply. "I didn't want Will to do it, you know. Become captain of the Flying Dutchman."

Jack's face looked bewildered at this. "Would you've rather he had died a bloody death, eh? He is your dearly beloved and whatnot."

She laughed once bitterly and without humor. "I'm not so sure anymore."

Jack leaned against the rail to face Elizabeth. "Why the sudden change of mind, er, heart?"

She looked intently at him. "Would you like the truth?"

"Very much so, love, considering truth is so hard to come by nowadays."

She took a breath. "You."

Jack's brow furrowed in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"After all that has happened between us, Jack, it seems that I have somehow... well, developed feelings for you."

He was silent for a moment, processing this. "So, am I to understand that this are feelings of a... romantic nature?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course."

He exhaled deeply. "Well, um, I think that I should probably rejoin the festivities. You know what tends to happen after the rum is gone."

He took a few steps, but was stopped by Elizabeth's hand on his shoulder. "Jack, I know you have those same feelings for me as well. While you may be a good captain, you are decidedly not a very good masker of feelings."

Jack turned around to find himself incredibly close to Elizabeth's face. He instinctively jerked back slightly. "Um, well, I- yes. Yes, I do. But-"

"-what about Will?" they said in unison.

"You see my dilemma," she said plainly.

He was quiet for a moment. Then, he said, "Well, I suppose it looks as if you have a choice, then, doesn't it?"

"I suppose I do."

"Whenever you do decide, love," he said turning and walking toward his cabin, "I'll be waiting." He opened the doors and went inside, closing them quietly behind him.

Elizabeth turned back look at the now black sea, thinking back on all those years with Will, and how strongly he loved her. Yet she somehow couldn't bring herself to believe that the many years spent with Will were more satisfying or passionate than the few spent around Jack. With Jack, she felt completely sure of herself and happy. With Will, however, it continuously felt as if she were only with him for his sake and his happiness. She was the only woman Will had ever known or been with. But Jack, he had been with dozens of women, and yet he still wanted her and her alone.

It was at this point when she understood that she had to do something for herself, and that she could no longer settle for what was proper or convenient.

With this newfound thought, she left the ship's side and walked into Jack's quarters.

"That was a right bit faster than I had previously thought it would be."

Without stopping, she walked toward his desk, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him up into a long, passionate kiss. Her lips moved in strange ways that they had never moved before, and the spark that had been ignited between them upon there meeting over a year ago, when he had rescued her from drowning in Port Royal, caught fire.

They moved toward his day sofa that sat below the large window. Jack laid down, allowing Elizabeth to lay on top of him. They continued to kiss with intensity and fervor, and just as Jack's shirt hit the floor, Gibbs barged into his quarters.

"Captain, the crew and I would-"

Jack and Elizabeth jumped apart and hastily straightened themselves to the point of decency. "Master Gibbs! Knocking is a rather new concept, one that you should accustom yourself to on a regular basis! Do I make myself quite clear?"

He stammered for an instant, attempting to overcome the shock of seeing the two of them together like that. "Aye, cap'n. I won't keep you and... Miss Swann, but I was going to say that the crew and I are off to our bunks."

"Well, carry on, then. Not a word is to escape your mouth about this incident that you've witnessed."

He nodded curtly and hurried out, slamming the doors behind him.

**What did you think? Good? Bad? I'm gonna write more chapters soon, but I need some feedback on the first chapter just to see if the idea is any good. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I understand that it took Elizabeth all of one hour to make a rushed decision that she wants to be with Jack, but I have done this on purpose. If you will read ahead into Chapter 2, you will see why. Thanks to everyone for the reviews and critiques!**

Chapter 2: The Morning After

Jack Sparrow awoke to the soft crashing of the sea's waves on the sides of the magnificent Pearl, and tried to remember the events of the previous evening. He knew that he had willingly told Elizabeth that he had feelings for her, which isn't something that he had ever done. He didn't like the feeling of being so vulnerable with someone that he could possibly love.

He turned in his hammock-like bed and jumped in sheer surprise. Elizabeth sat in a small chair against the wall, staring down at him.

"Hello, love. Might I inquire as to why your staring at me while I sleep?"

She smiled broadly at this. "I was waiting for you to wake up. We need to talk about something, Jack."

"Wee, seeing as it is so early in the morning-"

"Afternoon."

"Good lord, is it afternoon already? Well, seeing as I have just woken up, I'm not so sure as I am in the mood for idle chatter." He put his gun sash on and made to exit the cabin.

"Jack, Will is here. He wants to speak with me."

He turns around. "Is this suppose to be of great importance to me?"

Elizabeth huffed in frustration and crossed her arms. "Jack, about what has happened..."

Jack began twisting his mustache.

"I don't think that should have happened."

He stopped twirling the mustache. "Eh- pardon?"

"I was a brief moment of empty desire. I love Will and I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I should never have doubted myself in that. Seeing his face today on this ship has made me understand."

Jack only stood there, trying to come up with some sort of an articulated word to say, but words had escaped him.

"I'm sorry, Jack. It was I this time who put you in a position that compromised my honor. I will leave this ship today and never come back." She grabbed his hand and squeezed it briefly, then released. "Good bye, Jack."

She passed by his side and walked out onto the main deck, leaving Jack standing in his cabin, alone once again.

He stood there for a moment, trying to understand what had just happened. It was for this reason why he never revealed his true feelings for anyone, for they were always trampled over in the end.

"I am rejected... for the eunuch," he said quietly as he sat down at his desk and began to map out future destinations, determined not to let this affect him.

Meanwhile, out on the deck, Elizabeth sees Will, and runs up and kisses him hard.

"Will, how I've missed you."

He smiled down at her lovingly. "I told you that I would come back for you. I wasn't cruel enough to allow you to spend the next ten years with Jack."

She smiled fondly, masking the thoughts reeling in the back of her mind.

"Elizabeth?" he said.

She looked into his eyes. "Yes?"

"I think the time is now appropriate to ask, so..." He got down on one knee. "Elizabeth Swann, would you do me the honor of marrying me?"

Elizabeth broke into a wide smile. "Yes, Will. Of course I'll marry you."

Will grinned broadly and stood. He hugged her tightly and spun her around in celebration.

Gibbs, however, was watching this entire exchange with a puzzled look on his face.

It was then that Pintel and Ragetti approached Gibbs.

"What're you lookin' at?" Pintel asked him.

"I'm a right bit befuddled by what exactly is goin' on with the cap'n and Will and Miss Elizabeth, because it was only last night when I saw Miss Elizabeth and Jack, and they..."

Ragetti chimed in. "Were engaged in some illicit activity that would be quite controversial and devastating should her dearly beloved, that there being Mr. Turner, discover the contents of these said activities?"

Gibbs looked at him quizzically for a moment, then gestured for them to come closer, for this piece of information had to be whispered. "Last night, I interrupted an extremely passionate moment in which the cap'n and Miss Elizabeth were engaged in a kiss."

The two men gasped and turned briefly to look at Will and Elizabeth.

"You're bloody joking!" Pintel said, astonished.

"Nay, mates. I am certain that's what I saw."

"They were actually _snogging_?" Ragetti asked.

"Aye."

Pintel sighed shortly. "I am actually rather envious of Jack's good fortunes, mates."

"Aye," Gibbs and Ragetti said in unison.

Going back to Will and Elizabeth, Elizabeth looked at Will and asked the obvious question. "Will, when shall we get married?"

He smiled slightly. "Today, if you should have it."

She thought on this for a moment. She knew it needed to happen fast, before she had time to change her mind once again. "Yes, yes, today is perfect."

"It's settled then. We will be married today. But..."

"But what?"

"Barbossa, I'm told, is still recovering from the raucous celebrations of yesterday, so it will have to be Jack that marries us."

Elizabeth's eyes widened in horror, but she quickly composed and said, "It doesn't matter. As long as I can be married to you, William Turner. I am so ready to be married."

"Then there is nothing standing in our way now."

_If only that were true_, Elizabeth thought to herself.


End file.
